Free Sociological Theory MCQs with Answers

• A. functionalist perspective
• B. conflict perspective
• C. interactionist perspective
• D. dramaturgical approach

Explanation: Conflict theory exposes how apparently positive stereotypes can compare groups and shift attention away from structural inequality…

• A. interactionist perspective
• B. conflict perspective
• C. functionalist perspective
• D. labelling theory

Explanation: Functionalism views shared norms and conformity as conditions that maintain social order and allow institutions to operate.

• A. functionalist perspective
• B. psychological perspective
• C. interactionist perspective
• D. conflict perspective

Explanation: Conflict theory interprets school rewards and punishments as mechanisms that organise competition and reproduce unequal opportunities…

• A. George Herbert Mead
• B. Erving Goffman
• C. Charles Horton Cooley
• D. Jean Piaget

Explanation: Erving Goffman developed impression management, viewing social interaction as a performance in which people control the image they present…

• A. conflict theory
• B. Structural functionalism
• C. role theory
• D. None of these

Explanation: Role theory explains behaviour through the expectations attached to social positions, including expectations held by the person occupying…

• A. conflict theory
• B. Role theory
• C. None of these
• D. Symbolic interactionism

Explanation: Symbolic interactionism holds that people interpret and organise social life through shared symbols and meaningful communication.

• A. Organic solidarity
• B. Mechanical solidarity
• C. Interdependence solidarity
• D. None of these

Explanation: Durkheim called the solidarity of modern societies organic because specialised individuals perform different tasks and depend on one…

• A. Marx
• B. weber
• C. Durkheim
• D. All of these

Explanation: Structural functionalism treats society as an interrelated system whose institutions contribute to stability, an approach strongly rooted…

• A. None of these
• B. Social change
• C. Society and science
• D. Conflict theory

Explanation: Marx is most closely associated with conflict theory, which explains society through unequal ownership, class divisions, and struggle over…

• A. Increase the suicide rates
• B. None of these
• C. Have no effect upon them
• D. Decrease them

Explanation: Durkheim linked suicide risk to the level of social integration: strong relationships and religious affiliation provide belonging…

• A. consensus
• B. subjective meanings
• C. manifest functions
• D. structured social inequality
• E. negotiated social orders

Explanation: Conflict and feminist theories examine how social structures distribute power and resources unequally among groups.

• A. Feminism
• B. Symbolic Interactionism
• C. Conflict
• D. Radical
• E. Structural Functionalism

Explanation: Symbolic interactionism studies how people create and interpret meanings through symbols and everyday interaction.

• A. Abell
• B. Mead
• C. Marx
• D. Pareto
• E. Parsons

Explanation: Conflict theory draws heavily on Karl Marx's analysis of class conflict, ownership, and the unequal distribution of economic power.

• A. political economy
• B. symbolic interactionist
• C. conflict
• D. feminist
• E. functionalistPeople & Society

Explanation: Many introductory sociology texts identify functionalism, conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and feminist theory as four major…

• A. psychology
• B. geography
• C. social psychology
• D. communism
• E. economics

Explanation: Marx treated the economic organisation of society, especially ownership and control of the means of production, as a major force shaping…

• A. Enlightenment thinkers/philosophers
• B. The Industrial Revolution
• C. Renaissance thinkers/philosophers
• D. Globalization
• E. The rapid expansion of colonialism

Explanation: The Enlightenment, Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, and colonial expansion helped create the intellectual and social conditions for…

• A. Power domination and conflict
• B. the interpretive understanding of action
• C. women's experiences and gendered knowledge
• D. social solidarity and cohesion

Explanation: Dahrendorf analysed authority, power and social conflict, while Habermas examined domination and communication within critical theory.

• A. a complex network of interaction at a micro-level
• B. a normative framework of roles and institutions
• C. an unstable structure of social relations
• D. a source of conflict inequality and alienation

Explanation: Structural-functionalism views society as an integrated normative system made up of roles and institutions that contribute to social…

• A. societies use of surveillance and discipline
• B. the significance of expert discourses
• C. the hyperreality of media imagery
• D. the archaeology of scientific knowledge

Explanation: Foucault is associated with expert discourse, surveillance, discipline and the archaeology of knowledge.

• A. Joan Acker
• B. Simone de Beauvoir
• C. Helene Cixous
• D. Judith Butler

Explanation: Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity argues that male and female identities are produced through repeated social acts rather…